Amazon to expand delivery services, jobs in Japan

Jun 22, 2017

Amazon Japan recently announced that it intends to significantly expand its delivery workforce in Tokyo, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.

The company plans to hire 10,000 independent couriers in the Tokyo region to strengthen its year-round, same-day delivery services, according to the source. The new workforce will be assembled by 2020.

The announcement comes after Yamato Transport, the largest delivery company that Amazon uses, decided to reduce its same-day delivery services. To boost operations in Tokyo, the new courier workforce will be organized and managed by the company Maruwa Unyu Kikan.

The Nikkei Asian Review noted that the jobs-to-applicant ratio for cargo delivery drivers was 2.01 in 2016, which compares to the average demand ratio for all sectors of 1.25.

The Purchasing Managers' Index for services in Japan was 53 in May, up from 52.2 in April, according to a report from Markit Economics. It was the eighth-consecutive month that the services index increased, showing improving figures in new order growth, exports and production output.

Overall growth in the services sector in May was the strongest since August 2015, the source noted.